War turns Ukraine from agrarian state to super lab of inventions – WP
Ukraine has turned into a super laboratory that develops innovative military products and is quite capable of advancing on to the global level.
Source: Washington Post
Quote: "Ukraine, which is known for agriculture and other heavy industry, is not an obvious setting for drone innovation. The exigencies of war, however, have turned the country into a kind of super lab of invention, attracting investment from vaunted business luminaries including former Google chief executive Eric Schmidt."
More than 200 Ukrainian companies involved in drone production are now working hand-in-glove with military units on the front lines to tweak and strengthen drones to improve their ability to kill and spy on the enemy.
"This is a 24/7 technology race," Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said in an interview at his office in Kyiv, the capital. Fedorov is responsible for the Ukrainian Army of Drones program aimed at utmost deployment of reconnaissance and combat drones by the Ukrainian forces in order to compensate for Russia’s significant advantage in aircrafts and artillery.
The program has assisted private companies in training more than 10,000 drone operators in the past year, with the goal of training an additional 10,000 over the next six months.
"Russia’s air force is estimated to be 10 times larger than Ukraine’s, but Kyiv has kept much of it grounded after shooting down several fighter jets in the opening days of the conflict. Drones have allowed Ukraine to survey and hit sensitive targets far behind enemy lines while improving the accuracy of its conventional artillery," – states the Washington Post.
The Washington Post describes the advantages of working on technologies in Ukraine using the example of jamming technologies, emphasising that companies can not only develop but also test their products. This is a privilege that the vast majority of international companies specialising in similar industries do not have.
"In the West, you cannot just fire up a jammer and interfere with big parts of the spectrum just to test your product. You need a special license, and even when you have it, it only applies to a narrow cordoned-off area," said Andrii Liskovych, a former Uber executive who left Silicon Valley to help Ukraine's military efforts.
"That’s why this is one of the areas that Ukraine has a very real opportunity to develop a world-class solution," Liskovych said.
Drone manufacturers also receive constant feedback from the front, which allows them to make immediate adjustments to reduce vulnerability and improve lethality.
"Solving for the end user is one of the most challenging and important problems," Liskovych said.
Background:
- Ukraine has ambitions to become the largest arms manufacturer in Europe and can already talk about its first successes, in particular as a missile producer. This was stated by Minister of Strategic Industries Oleksandr Kamyshin.
- In early July, the German concern Rheinmetall announced its intention to open a plant in Ukraine to produce ammunition, tanks, and other armoured vehicles within the next 12 weeks.
- The Turkish company Baykar began construction of a plant for the production of Bayraktar attack UAVs in Ukraine.
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